TTC Employees Went On A Surprise Strike At Midnight Friday UPDATE

If you use public transit in Toronto you are not going to be happy. The union workers have gone on strike surprising the city when the TTC stopped picking up passengers at midnight on Friday. Gee thanks Greg Kinnear for a great start to the weekend.

Bob Kinnear set out a surprise announcement at 10:50 p.m. Friday night that the Amalgamated Transit Union was striking at midnight.

The strike comes after the TTC and the Union had a tentative deal from the previous weekend. Without any warning the union backed out of the deal and citing that that they didn't announce the strike in time for people to have alternative means of transportation was for the safety of transit workers.

"We have assessed the situation and decided that we will not expose our members to the dangers of assaults from angry and irrational members of the public," Kinnear said.

Kinnear's actions have put the residents of Toronto in a virtual hostage situation with people stranded waiting for a bus that will not come tonight.

I believe that one man sums up the situation completely.

"Wonderful," was the sarcastic reaction of 41-year-old security guard Sean Patenaude, as he waited for a streetcar late Friday night.

"It's going to screw up a heck of a lot of people trying to get to and from their jobs, it's going to cause a lot of economic hardship and a lot of personal hardship," he said.

"It's unforgivable really, you can't hold the entire transit population of the city hostage on a whim and that's what it's starting to feel like."

"I informed the mayor that we will be proceeding with back-to-work legislation at the first available opportunity," McGuinty said in a release early Saturday. A spokeswoman for the premier would not elaborate on when the earliest opportunity might be.

If you rely on the TTC to get around Toronto you will be out of luck at least on Saturday. The union will not be meeting until the afternoon with mediators.

We can thank the two-thirds of the workers who voted against the three year deal that the Toronto Transit Commission and the union had agreed to last weekend.

Thanks guys, it's time to walk instead of being held hostage by a Streetcar Named Greed.

update:

As of Sunday afternoon the strike is over. The government has forced the TTC workers to work while negotiations continue.